Slurries, pastes and creams are traditionally prepared as oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsions. Antiperspirants prepared with these emulsions go on the skin either wet or oily and are often sticky. They also require time to dry. Oil based liquid roll-ons on the other hand require shaking. They go on oily and also require time to dry.
Anhydrous antiperspirant compositions are known in the prior art and are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,686 wherein a liquid formulation, which may also be in the form of a cream and is preferably in the form of an aerosol, comprises an alcohol soluble aluminum chlorhydroxidepolyol complex antiperspirant in an anhydrous ethanol vehicle; and in stick form as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,306. Anhydrous liquid compositions having particular utility in pump-spray or roll-on formulations, wherein the antiperspirant agents are dissolved in a vehicle containing ethanol and a sufficient amount of volatile and/or non-volatile silicone liquids to reduce tackiness of the antiperspirant, is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,053,581, 4,065,564 and 4,073,880. In an attempt to improve the drying properties of antiperspirant compositions, the Product Bulletin of Wickhen Products, Incorporated, received May 24, 1979, describes a roll-on suspension containing an antiperspirant agent in a vehicle comprising 69-77% volatile silicone, 2% ethanol and 1% water.
U.K. Patent Application GB No. 2018590A eliminates the alcohol content from the roll-on or pump-spray antiperspirant suspension vehicle and substitutes a volatile cyclic silicone in amounts of 60-95% in order to improve adherence of said antiperspirant to the axillae, thereby improving efficacy. Despite the inclusion of suspending agents in the above formulation, some shaking is necessary in order to redisperse settled antiperspirant.
British Pat. Nos. 1,485,373, 1,501,862 and 2,003,730 disclose a moisture-absorbent water-insoluble and/or water-soluble polymer, (i.e., starch) as a substitute for astringent antiperspirant compounds, in an alcohol vehicle, said formulations being in the form of roll-on lotions, spray-pump liquids or aerosol sprays.
Another attempt to avoid greasy and tacky antiperspirant products resulted in solid stick formulations containing antiperspirant powder (i.e., aluminum salts) suspended in a solid vehicle comprising volatile silicones and long chain alcohols which may contain other powdered materials such as talc, starch, clays, sodium bicarbonate and fumed silica, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,679.
Although antiperspirant cream formulations are commonly manufactured as oil in water emulsions, anhydrous creams in the form of a thixotropic gel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,956, wherein a powdered astringent material is suspended in a liquid emollient such as mineral oils, or fatty acid and fatty alcohol esters containing an inorganic clay thickening/suspending agent, and a gel promoting agent such as C.sub.1-5 alkanols or propylene carbonate. This cream is in the form of a gelled mixture.
Despite the many attempts to provide a dry cream product, there is no disclosure of an anhydrous paste or cream composition which is stable, i.e., resistant to syneresis and requires no shaking prior to use, is easily spreadable, is not wet, oily, sticky or greasy and vanishes almost instantly on rub-in, requiring essentially no drying time, comprising an antiperspirant agent, an oil absorbent material, in a volatile non-polar vehicle such as volatile silicone and a clay suspending/thickening agent in the form of a bentonite gel.